Thermospray is a practical ionization method for interfacing liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry. Since its introduction, a vast number of compounds that would otherwise have been very difficult to analyze using mass spectrometry have been successfully identified and quantified. Thermospray has been particularly useful in the analysis of drugs and metabolites from biological matrices.
One of the drawbacks associated with thermospray is that nonvolatile salts and other nonvolatile materials tend to degrade its performance, ultimately clogging the thermospray probe assembly and destroying it.
Several solutions to this problem have been proposed including the use of replaceable ceramic tips and sonication. Such solutions do not prevent the capillary tubing of thermospray probe assemblies from degrading and clogging. Once the capillary tubes become degraded and clogged, the entire probe assembly has to be replaced.
Since a considerable expense is incurred when the probe has to be replaced, there is a need for a thermospray probe assembly which includes a replaceable capillary tube.